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america."world news reporting from washington, i am nada tawfik. counting the coronavirus cases. worries about theevity grow ever larger. donald trump's attorney general says he won't bow to political factors amid questions over his atty. gen. barr: i'm not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody, whether it is congress, newspaper, editorial boards, or the president. nada: plus, rethinking the origins of the solar system. why scientists at nasa say ourre beginnings wer gentle than previously thought. nada: for all of you watching on welcome to "world news america." the old saying "numbers certainly don't l"s true

when it comes to the global spread of the coronavirus. thousands have been infected and hundredsheave died from disease. but it is how those numbers are compiled that is proving tricky. changed-the--chinese authorities tend related the totals,ey resulting in thousands more cases and hundreds more deaths john sudworth has more. john: china iat war with this virus flying in extra supplies and reinforcements of 2600 extra troops. but there is still deep confusion about the enemy they are fighting,an howit has infected, and how many it has killed. until now, only those with a positive lab tt will count as confirmed cases to l b tests take time. now patients confirmed by much quicker ct scanneds are being included. it is much less reliable, but it

means the number of cases has rocketed. what is far more worrying is the big-league index. the sudden increase in those patientsd who only scans not counted before. but are those extra dths added up from across the past three weeks, or are they a new unily pointing to a hidden number of similar daily deaths? china hasn't told us. it has been focused on messages of loyalty. these patients are being sworn into a communist committee, and it has been settling political scores, removing the boss of the province where the outbreak started. the mediare showing hard-working hero stories, too. its driver's winning anniveary.-dd -g anniversary. "come homen, soothe sign says. contact with the outside world

is for bi forbidden. from beijing, i asked if china can beat the virus. "of course we will win," he says. this shop is keeping a safe distance from its custome. china is now portraying this as a patrioti messes, the enforcement-- masses,he enforcement of strict quarantine measures, and the wearing of facemasks. there is no shortage of fighting spirit, but there is so much we still don't know aboutow this is going to end. john sworth, bbc news, beijing. nada: for more on the situation in china, i spoke earlier with shouting from --zhaoyin feng, a

correspondent with the bbc chinese service. do you think there is an accurate picre of the deaths and infections? zhayoyin: it appears the authorities are trying to expand more cases rather than hiding them. but there has been a shortage of testing kits and hospital beds in the province, so a lot of people passed away before they knew the real cause of their death. their cases are not included in the death counts at the moment could of course there are many cases where people show only very light symptoms, and the immune system was ableruo fight the they might not have known that they were ever infected. when we lothese numbers, we have to be aware that we are looking at the low estimate. nada: we have also seen a political fallout here.

what is the significance of that? zhaoyin: yes, it is definitely not a coincidence that w see a short spike of confirmed cases number. at the same time, a political shuffle ine. wuhan provi this is a political move to offer a relatively clean slate to the officials. men who will be put in place in wuhan province werey previou working closely with chinese president xi jinping. it is not the firsentime the pres put his loyalists to the provinces battling a crisis this time around he definitely has high hopes for these two ficials. nada: but is there any sense that this could be a isis for the larger communist pty? zhaoyin: well, it is important to note that a lot of criticism on the chinesenternet right now are targeting the local

authorities rather than the ntral government. even the state mediaeijing criticized local officials for reacting very slow to the crisis. it is a tricky balance for beijing. you could say that they are pointing fingers at local authorities, but at the same time they are admitting this is a lack of efficiency in the chinese governance system. this coulde counted as a failure of beijing. but of course the country is using its propaganda machine to maniovlate and up some of the public opinion. nada:kn we ow you will state on it. thank you so much, zhayoyin. the u.s. attorney general has pushed back on things that his department is influenced by political factors. ain an interview wi news in the united states, william barr says he will not be bullied or influencedy anybody, whether it is congress, a newspaper editorial board, or the

president had his comments come after the justice departmentnd abandon the se scene -- sentencing recommendation n the prosecut of trump ally roger stone hours after the president complained the original sentence was tooarsh. barr insists the president never asked him to d anything inappropriate, but he says he does not appreciate the president'weets. atty. gen. barr: to have public statements and tets made about the department, about people in here, that case is pending in the department, and about judges with whom we have cases, they t impossible for me to do-- make it impossible for me to do my job and tensure the courts and prosecutors in the department that we are doing o work with integrity. nada: for more, i was joine ier by a justice department porter at "the wall stre journal." it is quite extraordinary that

you have the attorney general essentially tellt g the presid stop tweeting about his department. >> it is. we have seen the attorney general take a position that is often aligned with the one the president is taking, and this is one of the first instances where he has come out and told the president to literly stop tweeting. nada: and about ty kind of question, the timeline of the decision to revise those sentencing recommendations, what do we know about wheer that truly came before the tpresident'et or not? >> we know there was a lot of discussion leading up to words in the original filing, the monday filing in which the prosecutors did recommend a seven- toine-year sentence. we knew at that point senior justice department officials were asking for something less than that. filing came o monday, askingthis

for seven to nine, yeae inference was that the prosecutors had the disagreement and that is the recommendation the justice department was going to make it what we ore told by seepartment officials and which the attorney ghieral confirmeelf in the abc interview was thatnce the senior justice department leadership saw the monday filing, they believed it was not consistent with what they had understood the filing to say. and so they got to work trying to rewrite this new filing that was filed eventually on tuesday. the timeline is still a little bit unclear, a our understanding is that the prosecutorin most of the u.s. attorney's office in washington to file a revised memo and change the sentencg recommendation until after the president's tweets on tuesday morning.

n it is still an oestion exactly what happened in those intervening 12 hours, but the attorney general is saying that he very early came to this decision before the president tweeted. nada: i mean, the attorney general is clearly speaking out because he is concerned about this view that his department could be politicized. hwh testifies in front of the judiciary committee, what evidence do expect lawmakers to want to see from him? ara: well, clearly lawmakers will want to see some evidence to back up the fact that he decided he wanted to revise the sentence before the president tweeted, so they would want to see emails, draft filings, anything that uld show they whether they are going to getn that, i'm not really sure. the justice deparent can probably withhold the information from congress because it is part of the

deliberative process before the decisions reached. but clearly they are going to want to see that. roger stone is expected to get sentenced next week, and the judge coulask for similar information. nada: ok, thank you so much for joining us we have been speaking about the u.s. justice department, and today the agency filed racketeering charges against china's huawei. it is part of a broader against the tech f.s. government the trump administration sees huawei as a potential threat to u.s. national security interests. a short time ago i spoke about this with our business correspondent samirain. what are prosecutors alleging samira: what they are saying is that huaweind its subsidiaries are being accused of stealing companies and using theamerican information for its own gain. there are some pretty explosive allegations in the indictment. at one point it is said that a

huawei employees on the floor of the trade show in chicago trying steal technology in the dead of night. in addition to those allegations, we are seeing that the u.s. governmentyi is that huawei violated u.s. sanctions that are in place against both iran and north korea. in a statement, huawei has denied all of these charges, and it said that this is just an attempt by the u.s. government torrarably damaged the company's reputation. nada: as you say, explosive charges, but what do you make about the timing of this announceme? samira: right, so the timing is reallybe interestinguse as you know, the u.s. bansan cos from selling components and technology to huawei, and the united states is trying to sideline this company withins of its expansion the western world, citing of course nional security concerns. but in the last few weeks, both the u.k. and germany have agreed to use some of huawei's

appearedger the trumpich administration. nada: samira, thank you so much. odalso, the u.s. senate voted to limit president trump's ability to take further military action against iran. it comes nearly six weeks after the president ordered the leader, qasem soleimani.tary some republicans crossed party lines tof vote in favore resolution. president trump is expected to veto the measure. in other news now, the u.s. and the taliban have negotiated a weeklong truce in afghanistan. it has been held as an important breakthrough, but not yet a peace agreement. u.s. troops won't withaw until violence levels decrease. urall of the bushfiresng in australian state of new south wales are now first time this fire season, according to the rur fire service. the flames had been ragi since ptember, burning more than a million hectares of land and destroying many homes.

heavy rain has fallen in the state last week which has put out many brush fires. communications director hope takes is returning to--s hope hi is returning to 1600 pennsyania avenue. she is expected to serve as counselor to the president and report to jared shner. th 31-year-old left the administration two years ago to or the fox corporation, which owns mr.' tr's favorite tv network, fox news. movinglo on,ng statements began today in the trial of disgraced hollywood producer harvey weinstein. it is the first criminal trial against the mogul scores of women accused him of sexual assault, leading to his downfall and the rise of the me too movement. weinstein could face life in prison if convicted of rate and predatory sexual assault, allegations he has denied. harvey weinstein limped into court as h rape trial draws to

a close. captivated by the emotional arguments in this case, seen as a key moment for the me too movement. in closing arguments, the former hollywood producer's lawyer told the seven men and five women of the jury that they were his last defense in the country from the overzealous media and prosecution. testifying?thinking about you wanted to testify? >' he didn't have to. sthe caseke for itself. nada: weinstein did not testify, and the defense focused on sewing down over the women's stories. >> the evidence presented in this case was anemic at best, and if hiss name t harvey weinstein and it was john doe, the district attorney's office would never have brought these chars. nada: the manhattan district attorney's case relies on the testimony of six women. there is nphysical evidence to support their claims, but the

jury waswn s naked photographs of wednesday to corroborate their descriptions of his body. they had strikingly similar accounts. the influential producer allegedly dangled offers of jobs and move your goals from and then got them alone ihis hotel room, where he allegedly attacked to themin ne of the most dramatic moments, on accuser broke down in sobs. ethe former actress testified that over the course of an extremely degrading relationship ,with weinstein he raped her in a beverly hills hotel in 2013. the defense presented evidence to argue that the relatwanship consensual, even loving. the jury will begin deliberations starting next week to decide who they believe, weinstein or his accusers. prosecutors will delivre their closinrks in the weinstein case tomorrow. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, whatan rus think of president putin stayi in power

indefinitely. avwe he a special report from the country's heartland. germany has been marking the 75th anniversary of the destruction of dresden by british and american bombers between the 13th and 15th of february 1945, thousands of bombs were dropped on his he architecture.beauty and tens of thousands of civilians were killed in a hiahly controve assault goo jenny hill reports. jenny: dresden has risen from the ashes, but its debt are not forgotten. the city sll assembled of -- still a symbol of the whole released by war. it is 75 years since allied forces dropped a bomb after bomb on the city, an attack which even at the time it ignited ntroversy. underneath the bombardment, civilians at and burned--

suffocated and burned, the city deroyed. ursuala was 14. she recalled a firestorm so intense that she kind onto a lamppost to avoid being suclad by thes. >> my mother said,e "now we h lost everything. now we are homeless." jenny: commemorations today in a city so famed for its culture and beauty that its people thought no one would attack it. >> we recall both the suffering of people in german cities and the suffering th germans inflicted on others. we do not forget it wa germans who started this cruel war. jenny: this is, for germany, a highly symbolic day. for many it is about memory, reconciliation. for others, it is about the ne-- defiance.

the far right is making its presence felt in the country, seeking to redefine germany's second wor war history. orthere are few survleft to tell the tale of dresden. by honoring instead the city intends to keep death by honoring its--by honoring its debt, the cy intends to keep her memory alive. nada: in russia, opponents of presidt vladimir are doing what they can toeep him fm-- vladimir putin are doing what they can just keep him from staying in power into finale. --indefinitely. c rosenberg travelfr 1000 miles om moscow to hear what russians think about possibility. stea ve: it feels like rld away from moscow, an industrial dystia of steam and smoke. this wasuilt by a dictator who called himself a man of steel,

stalin. the idea of a strong ruler, iron hand, is still attractive youhere. inin her flat, she is raising four of her grandchildren by herself. oubut as t as things are, she remains upbeat about the future and about russia's current leader. >> vladimir putin is my he can sing, heolan doics, everything! i want h to be presidentry. rever. steve: the suspicion is he does, o. vladimir putin is in a hurry to rewrite russia's constitution. it is for the good of the country, he says. but crics claim his real aim

is to stay in por indefinitely , if not as president, then in some other role. if vladimir putin's plan is to stick around, it is clear ts t many russill accept a that. iethey b there is no alternative to putin, or because they feel they don't have the power anyway to influey decisions about russia's future taken at the top. but some russians are trying. >> nyet! nyet! steve: these protesters are accusing putin of a constitutional coup. >> the authorities are treating the constitution like toilet paper. they are using it to whitwipe their bottomswhich have got stuck to the throne. nada: i but the turno tiny -- steve: but the turnout is tiny. iltatyana believes in the power of protest.

but sadly, she says, the russian people are sleeping. and that means that ifussian leader wants to stay in power, to ruleri forevert now there is little to stand in their way. eve rosenbg, bbc news, russia. nada: now, when it comes to the origins of our solar system, scientists at nasa say we should think more of a gentl clumping of planets rather than then smashing together after the big not as catchy, but according to a new study outoc today, the s may have been less violent than originally thought, and that could have major implications for how we view the universe, as pallab ghosh reports. pallab:of billionears ago, the planets in our own solar system formed. it was a violent process of rocks crasng together and merging until they became world's which included ourwn

earth. or so we thought. today atce a news confern seattle, nasa scientists said that the theory held for the best part of 60 years was completely wrong. >> it is wonderful scientific present, and the results described toou -- this is how planetesimal formation took place quite possibly across the solar system. pallab: the wssun is right in te middle of the solar system. closest to it are for planets including the earth. then further out are four much larger planets, the most famous of which is saturn. and then at the edge is tiny pluto, 3 billion milesway. one of thousands of slums of roc-- thousands of lumps of rock and ice known as the kuiper belt.these were left froe

creation of the pln ets 4.5 billars ago. these objects lastreached one of it is only now that scientists have been able to study it in detail. it consists of two folders fused together. look closely. there is no evidence of a violent impact, no cracks. not just of these two boulders, but a gradual accumulation of all the ice and rocks that build the planets we know today. pallab ghosh, bbc news, seattle. sciencee beauty of there. we are always learning more. remember, you can find more of all the day's news on our website. plus, to see what we are working on at any time, make su what to check us out on twitter. narrator: funding for this presentation is made possible by... babbel, an online program designed by language specialists

teaching spanish, french and more. the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum-kovler foundation. pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you, thank you. narrator: be more, pbs. ♪

captioning sponsored by newshour productns, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woouff. on the newshour tonight, i sit down with senator bernie sanders, fresh from his victory in the new hampshire primary. then, thpolitics of an outbreak. as the coronavirus clas more than one thousand victims-- how china's ling communist party is now under the microscope. plus, the quiet epidemic as coronavirus dominates the headlines-- we look at the rising global threat of measles. >> it is really a collective failure that these outbreaks are happening and the underlyi ason is that people are not vaccinated. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.